Farmers in the Midwest and Great Plains are planting much less hemp than they were two years ago, according to the most recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But to David Lakeman – who leads the hemp and cannabis program at the Illinois Department of Agriculture – the smaller numbers may be a good thing.
He said there was a large surge of interest after the 2018 Farm Bill allowed farmers to grow cannabis plants with low levels of THC, the psychoactive agent found in cannabis. "That excitement was real, but perhaps it outran infrastructure," Lakeman said. "We have to build a whole industry of transportation, processing and markets. Now I think we're starting to see a stabilization and what I hope is the beginning of a recovery for this industry."
Sarah Stephens, who raises and processes hemp in Kansas, predicts the stabilization will lead to a tipping point for hemp growers. She's seen improvements in seed breeding and growing techniques like row spacing, planting depth and machinery usage.
"We've gone through the trial and error and now we're slowly headed in the right direction," she said. "We're headed toward an upward tipping point that will take us to a million acres of hemp in the not-too-distant future."
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